


A Friend Indeed

by kezya



Category: Cadfael Chronicles - Ellis Peters
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-24
Updated: 2007-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-25 02:31:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1626836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kezya/pseuds/kezya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yuletide Treat! Brother Cadfael saves a friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Friend Indeed

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Valdhery

 

 

When the town fell, there was at first so much chaos that not everyone could be immediately accounted for. It was only after Robert of Gloucester got his victorious, looting army back under his iron fist, that it was discovered that the officer who had commanded the garrison for King Stephen was neither a prisoner, nor among the dead.

This unexpected turn of events made Gloucester angry, but not unduly worried. There were guards posted at every gate, and, according to witnesses, the man had been wounded in the final attack. Wherever he was hiding, he could not hope to get out of the town, and he equally could not elude the searchers forever. It was only a matter of time before he was captured.

For the soldiers at the northern gate, the tedium of their guard duties was unexpectedly broken on the fifth day by the arrival of a stocky old Benedictine, escorted, even more surprisingly, by a man they recognized as Olivier de Bretagne, a trusted knight to the powerful Laurence d'Angers himself. The monk explained that he was there to look for a young woman of noble birth, who had been in the town when it had first been put under siege. He had been entrusted by the lady's family with the mission to find her and bring her safely home. Olivier de Bretagne confirmed this story, and vouched for Brother Cadfael's good character and intentions. Seeing no reason why they should not, the guards let the Benedictine through.

The monk did not return until much later, when the afternoon was already giving way to an early evening. He was accompanied by a trim woman, who kept her gaze downcast, and leant heavily against his shoulder. She was wrapped in so many shawls that it was difficult to tell what she looked like in the gathering dusk. All that was readily visible was a stray lock of dark hair, and, when she raised her head once, the sharp glint of an almond-shaped eye.

If the guards had looked more closely, they might have noticed that the Benedictine's habit didn't bulge around his middle quite as much as it had before - but they were bored and, frankly, not very much inclined to vigilance. One of them, called Thomas of the Wake, who fancied himself quite the ladies' man, took the time to leer at the monk's charge and make some loud remarks that had the other soldiers laughing heartily. The woman's shoulders stiffened, but the monk whispered something in her ear, and she let herself be guided through the gates and out of the town.

As the odd couple walked towards the place where Olivier de Bretagne was waiting for them with the promised horses, the young lady - who was not really a lady at all - turned towards Brother Cadfael, and said, "Shameful behaviour. Robert of Gloucester should have these men's hides for disregarding their duties like that."

"Smaller steps, Hugh," Cadfael admonished the disguised Sheriff of Shropshire. "We do not want anyone to notice that this noble young lady is wearing men's shoes!"

"Do you know, Cadfael," said Hugh, shifting his weight against his friend's side, and hissing a little, because his wounds still pained him, "this is not the kind of wartime adventure that I am going to tell my son about when he's older."

He glanced at the monk from the corner of his eye, and smiled lopsidedly. "But I suppose _you_ will." 

 


End file.
